Let's Bet on....You Name It!
Some people bet money in order to make a profit but research shows that betting is more often done for psychological reasons than anything else. People wager because they like the sense of excitement and the buzz that they get from the high adrenaline release. Many bettors enjoy the competitive element of trying to beat the dealer, the bookie or other players. They like the rush of adrenaline that they get from taking risks. Gambling also offers a way to escape from worries and stress.
That doesn’t mean that it’s not fun to win money. It is! But there are plenty of other reasons that people put their money down on games and events. That’s one of the reasons that Sloto Cash casino offers such a wide range of game options. The thrill is more connected to the process of placing the bet than the result. In fact, at SlotoCash Casino, games are offered in a Free Mode where people can play without depositing any money. Yet the majority of players prefer to place a bet, regardless of how small, because that’s where the fun and excitement comes in.
Most bets are straight-forward wagers – you wager on whether a spin will achieve its goal or not, whether a football team will win or lose, whether your poker hand will be better than the hand of other players or not. But some bets are just plain bizarre. Sportsbooks have started to offer such betting opportunities to enable bettors to let their imaginations fly as they place their money on unusual occurances and events.
Weird wagers have always been a feature of the betting scene but in recent years, with the growth of sportsbooks, which offer bets on many non-sports events, these “prop” bets have become extremely popular. Some of the most unique bets of the last few years include:
Aliens
There’s a lot of debate regarding whether there’s intelligent life in outer space but did you know that you could bet on it? Some sportsbooks take bets about if and when the President of the United States will announce that intelligent life outside our planet has been found. Obviously, it’s impossible to know when the bet will be decided – could be next week, next month or sometime in the next century. Or never. Yet there are people who place such bets in the expectation that one day…..
The Royal Family
Bets on the British Royal Family are nothing new. Bookies in the UK have been taking bets on the British monarchy for hundreds of years.
Brits spent money speculating over whether Queen Elizabeth I, who ascended the throne in 1558, would ever get married (she never did), who would be the first of King George III’s 9 sons to marry and produce a heir (winner was his third son, Edward, Duke of Clarence, who fathered the future Queen Victoria), whether the Lord Cumberland, would be charged with killing his valet Joseph Sellis (he wasn’t) and whether King Edward VIII would abdicate to marry Wallis Simpson (he did).
The last few decades have given royal-watchers plenty to wager on including the affairs and subsequent divorces of various members of the royal clan, questions of succession (when will Queen Elizabeth II give up the throne?) and, perhaps the biggest and most popular bets of all, the sexes of the Prince William and Prince Harry’s offspring. In fact, betting on the royals is, perhaps, the biggest sport in England.
Celebrity Deaths
Can you imagine being a celebrity and finding out that there are odds on when you’ll be passing on from this world? Sounds a bit morbid but sure enough, there are oddsmakers who take bets on predictions of when a celebrity will move on to the next world. Betting on when someone will die is illegal in the United States and most bookies in other areas of the world won’t have anything to do with such bets. But there are some sportsbooks that focus ONLY on those types of wagers.
Similarly, one well-known sports betting site takes bets on when the world will end. There is no indication of how the bet will be paid out.
Different Sports
If there’s one thing that we’ve learned from esports it’s that “sports” doesn’t have to be played on a field or a court or with teams or even with athletes who compete physically.
Sportsbooks take bets on all sorts of sporting events including events like Cow Patty Bingo (bets on where a cow will relieve herself in a field) and Ferret Bingo (bets on ferrets who are placed in tunnel mazes; the first ferret to find its way out wins). You can also place a bet on cheese-rolling competitions in which wheels of cheese are rolled down a hill with the first cheese to cross the finish line the winner.
Drone Races
Drone Races is a new activity and DraftKings is the first sportsbook to announce that aerial drone races will be joining their list of betting opportunities. According to DraftKings, they have done research that shows that drone racing fans are more likely to bet on the outcome of a drone race than are fans of major sports leagues.
So far, it’s legal to bet on drone races is legal in New Hampshire, New Jersey, Colorado, West Virginia and Tennessee. Regulatory approvals are pending in additional states. Drone Racing League President Rachel Jacobson said to TheVerge, “The sky is now the limit for DRL fans to get skin in the game, and we’re thrilled to partner with DraftKings to transform our high-speed race competition into the ultimate sport to bet on. The opportunity for us to elevate our engagement through all forms of gaming and gambling will only increase as mobile betting becomes more adopted across the country.”
This year all races are still virtual and will take place in a simulation in which real-life drone physics are used. But drone races are nothing new – in the past they have been held in an auto-museum in Munich, the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens Florida and at Alexandra Palace in London.
DraftKings tested the waters last year with free-to-play contests. They noted that the response was 30% higher betting interest than had been observed for other new sports introduced to the betting platform. In-game bets will also be available for drone races.
As is the case with major sports including football, baseball and basketball, gamblers will be able to make bets before the races as well as during them.
DraftKings said consumer research has shown that drone racing fans are three times more likely to place a bet than fans of major sports leagues, and are 90% more likely to be interested in sports betting in general than the average sports fan.
The drone league is a privately owned New York company founded in 2015. It has held events in six countries.
